[kernel-xen] UEFI hardware wanted

[Colin Durrant]

Hi Steven

Sorry, I am picking this conversation up from a few weeks back.

Be delighted to know why it doesn't run on the Xen kernel? Not sure if you managed to get some hardware to test this. Wish I could help.

As my current environment is running on KVM, if I got the server to boot into the Xen kernel - would my VM's boot up or would this be a catastrophe? How much do the VM's care if they run on KVM or Xen?

I assume from what you mentioned that we could get some performance and reliability improvements by running Xen instead of KVM?

Appreciate your help

Thanks & kind regards

Colin Durrant
Managing Director
Colins-IT
Colins-IT Limited
Tel: 07969 11 33 00
Fax: 0845 074 5707
FREEPHONE:0800 10 777 82
email: colin at colins-it.co.uk
web: http://www.colins-it.co.uk

-----Original Message-----
From: kernel-xen-bounces at lists.wireless.org.au [mailto:kernel-xen-bounces at lists.wireless.org.au] On Behalf Of Steven Haigh
Sent: 06 February 2015 11:04
To: kernel-xen at lists.wireless.org.au
Subject: Re: [kernel-xen] UEFI hardware wanted

Thanks Colin,

I'm pretty sure I know *why* it didn't work - although I have a lot of work to do to make sure it works as intended.

I've just synced up new packages to the EL7 version of my packages that are under testing that I get working ok with a non-EFI system - but it should also work with EL7 / grub2 / UEFI. Should.

To make sure it works, I need some physical kit to work with - otherwise I wouldn't be confident in saying that it is stable.

Hopefully, it will translate to working under EL6 / UEFI as well - but right now, I can't say anything concrete.

As for the other questions, I know very little about KVM - and I wouldn't even bother with it. However that's my preference.

On 06/02/15 19:23, Colin Durrant wrote:
> Hi
> 
> Yes I had some major issues with UEFI. I got everything working but 
> not on the Xen kernel but I somehow got it all working on KVM qemu.
> 
> Are there any particular issues with using this environment?
> 
> Quick question as a side track. If you over allocate memory and 
> processors to your actual virtual machines, do this have an adverse 
> performance implication? I know if doesn¹t from a processor point as 
> far as I am aware but unlike citrix Xen server it lets you allocate as 
> much memory as you like per VM?
> 
> From what I have discovered the IBM hardware we are using is all UEFI 
> based. Secondly, we have an IBM 3750 server and it didn¹t support 
> Citrix Xenserver 6.2 - we have to run 6.1 which I thought was a little odd.
> 
> Thanks
> 
> Colin.
> 
> On 06/02/2015 03:45, "Steven Haigh" <netwiz at crc.id.au> wrote:
> 
>> Hi all,
>>
>> If we like it or not, UEFI BIOS is the way things are heading. As 
>> Paulo recently posted to this list (and I believe Colin also), UEFI 
>> and my Xen packaging / kernel doesn't work with UEFI at all.
>>
>> Some systems can boot in legacy mode - which then will work - however 
>> this option won't be around for ever.
>>
>> I'm wondering if there would be anyone on this list that would 
>> consider sponsoring some UEFI hardware (even desktop hardware would 
>> be
>> sufficient) to allow me to create a test environment for getting UEFI 
>> support into the Xen packages.
>>
>> Right now, my testing environment is a single Dell Poweredge 1950 
>> that I just bought some RAM for - however none of my other hardware 
>> has a UEFI BIOS to test with.
>>
>> I'd also be after some recommendations for the collective wisdom of 
>> this list as to which UEFI mainboard brand / model to go for.
>>
>> I believe I'd need:
>> 1 x UEFI mainboard
>> 1 x CPU to suit above mainboard - Use an i5 CPU? i7? Xeon?
>> RAM - 8Gb DDR3?
>> 1 x Case - Desktop case is fine.
>>
>> Any other suggestions? Thoughts?
>>
>> --
>> Steven Haigh
>>
>> Email: netwiz at crc.id.au
>> Web: http://www.crc.id.au
>> Phone: (03) 9001 6090 - 0412 935 897
>>
> 
> 
> Scanned by MailDefender - managed email security - 
> www.maildefender.net _______________________________________________
> kernel-xen mailing list
> kernel-xen at lists.wireless.org.au
> https://lists.wireless.org.au/mailman/listinfo/kernel-xen
> 

--
Steven Haigh

Email: netwiz at crc.id.au
Web: http://www.crc.id.au
Phone: (03) 9001 6090 - 0412 935 897


Scanned by MailDefender - managed email security - www.maildefender.net